Marshalls to spend a combined 4.5 years in prison

Lloyd Robert Marshall, 67, and Nitta Mitsuko Marshall, 65, former Waianae residents, were sentenced on Monday to terms of imprisonment of 36 months and 18 months, respectively, on gambling charges, according to the Department of Justice.

The Department of Justice announced Wednesday that law enforcement officers arrested several people on the Big Island indicted by a federal grand jury inHonolulu on Nov. 20 for operating an illegal gambling business and conspiring to doso.

They were accused of conspiring to conduct, operate, finance, supervise and direct an illegal gambling business involving cockfighting, dice tables and card games at their Puuhulu Road property in Waianae.

There were also 13 counts of structuring over $239,000 in proceeds during a one-year period from the illegal gambling business to evade certain regulations relating to currency transactions.

Under federal law, a Currency Transaction Report must be filed by a financial institution with the Internal Revenue Service in regard to any currency transaction over $10,000. It is illegal to structure transactions with financial institutions in order to avoid this filing requirement.

According to documents filed in connection with the case, from approximately 2009 to July 2011, the Marshalls agreed to use their property as a site of illegal cockfighting contests and dice and card games.

Police observed from 100 to 600 people at these "derbies." People attending thegames paid parking and entrance fees. The Marshalls also forfeited $170,578.75 in cash, representing gambling proceeds which were seized on July 2, 2011 during a search warrant executed on their property, and their interest in real property used as the venue for the illegal gambling activities.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tuesday that a proposed agreement between world powers and Iran was "a bad deal" that would not stop Tehran from getting nuclear weapons -- but would rather pave its way to getting lots of them and lea...